working with returnees, refugees and internally displaced ... · working with returnees, refugees...

Working with Returnees,

Refugees and Internally

Displaced Persons

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The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN

organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and

development and its benefits to both society at large and the individual

volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for

volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into

development programming, and mobilizing volunteers. These beliefs

inform the concept of volunteerism for peace and development, which

is at the core of UNV's mission.

The difference UNV makes is by demonstrating peace and development

results and impact through volunteerism. UNV’s comparative advantage

is the ability and knowledge to bring about transformational change

through volunteerism, community voluntary action and civic engagement

through active partnerships with civil society, volunteer involving

organizations, UN agencies and Governments. This is inspiration in

action.

Front Cover: UN Volunteer Ashgar Ali Shan in the aftermath of the 2006 Pakistan earthquake withan internally displaced woman (UNV)

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WORKING WITH RETURNEES, REFUGEES AND IDPS

. 1

GENERAL BACKGROUND

Since the Universal Declaration on Human Rights was signed 60

years ago, the problem of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

(IDPs) has become increasingly dramatic and complex. Civil conflict

and political unrest are coupling with food insecurity, climate change

and other factors to drive ever more people away from their homes

and into the unknown.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

(UNHCR) estimates that today there are 37 million such people

worldwide: 11 million outside their own countries and 26 million

displaced within them.

In partnership with UNHCR and

other UN agencies, UN

Volunteers are often at the

forefront of the response. In 2010,

there were 1,049 UN Volunteers

assigned to UNHCR, making it

one of our biggest partners.

Whether assisting with the

protection, registration or

resettlement of displaced people,

or helping in the daily

management of refugee camps,

or providing livelihood training,

tools and opportunities for the

refugee community - for over three decades, UN Volunteers from

around the world have provided critical support in safeguarding the

rights and well-being of refugees, stateless people, returnees and

internally displaced persons.

UN Volunteers are doing an excellent joband are contributing decisively toUNHCR’s work as an integral part of ourorganization. Few deserve recognitionmore than these professionals who bravehardship and danger in some of thetoughest places, receiving an allowancebut no salary. Some of our finest staffstarted as UN Volunteers.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, AntónioGuterres, at the closing of the sixtieth session of the ExecutiveCommittee of UNHCR in September 2009

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2 .

GOOD EXAMPLE

For example, between 2004 and 2010 the number of UN Volunteers

with UNHCR grew by approximately 11% per annum. During 2010,

over one thousand UN Volunteers worked in 76 countries with

UNHCR. The volunteers represented 17% of UNHCR’s total

personnel in the field. UNV also works with UNICEF and UNDP in

reintegration of returnees and IDPs.

Specifically, UN Volunteers participate actively in a wide range of

activities - setting up camps (often on inhospitable and sometimes

remote tracts of land), transporting refugees and displaced persons to

sites, distributing tents and basic household items. UN Volunteers

also help register refugees upon arrival, assist returnees to

reintegrate into their places of origin or in host communities.

Importantly, UN Volunteers also help with legal advisory and

protection services. UN Volunteers as part of their assignments

build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host

country.

The following good examples illustrate the support provided by UN

Volunteers in community participation, resettlement/integration and

protection. The final part lists the roles and activities of UN Volunteers

based on these good examples and what they can do in support of

Returnees, Refugees and IDPs.



. 3

HELP WITH LEGAL ADVISORY AND

PROTECTION SERVICES

Respect and protection for refugees in Chad

When refugees from the Central

African Republic (CAR) cross the

border into Chad, those most in

need receive immediate medical

assistance and food. People are

issued temporary identity

bracelets and then transferred to

camps.

There are three main UNHCR-run

camps near the town of Gore;

Amboko, Gondje and Dosseye.

Belgian national Alexia Nisen

worked as an UNHCR Assistant

Protection Field Officer and was tasked with ensuring that border

guards were aware of the law and that displaced people were not

exploited or turned back.

Nisen worked closely with the local police, ensuring they were familiar

with the relevant procedures. She also helped monitor conditions in

the Chadian prisons outside the camp. It is essential that human

rights are respected for all, both victims of crimes and those identified

as perpetrators.

It was important too that people displaced from CAR knew Chadian

law. Disputes within the camps are sometimes resolved via traditional

methods, and UN Volunteers oversee these when possible so that

human rights are not degraded.

Traditionaldance andtheatre is usedto sensitizeresidents tosexual andgender-basedviolence inCamp Ambokoin Chad.


4 .

GOOD EXAMPLE 4 .

GOOD EXAMPLE

Nisen also addressed issues of sexual and gender-based violence

(SGBV) and the rights of children.

Many people in the camps hold to traditional tribal values, so great

tact is required when discussing human rights. Just as much

sensitivity is needed when talking with women who have suffered

abuse. Nisen referred abused women to volunteer representatives

within the refugee community and

ensured that women could consult

a doctor.

Children in refugee situations are

especially vulnerable and are at

risk of female genital mutilation

(FGM) and forced marriages.

Unaccompanied children may be

sexually abused or forced to work

as domestic servants.

The UN Volunteer helped set up committees of camp volunteers

to monitor these difficult issues, circulate information and

sensitize the population to SGBV and child abuse. Another

method used to keep human rights in people's minds is through

traditional dance and theatre, where the performers are the women

and children of the camps themselves.

Nisen worked closely with the local police,ensuring they were familiar with therelevant procedures. She also helpedmonitor conditions in the Chadian prisonsoutside the camp. It is essential thathuman rights are respected for all, bothvictims of crimes and those identified asperpetrators.


YOUR ASSIGNMENT AS A UN VOLUNTEER

. 5

INVOLVING YOUTH IN COMMUNITY

PARTICIPATION

Youth Festival in

Somalia

By volunteering, youngSomali refugees gainconfidence and hope.

The refugee camp had never seen

anything like it. More than 200

young people had gathered for a

festival of drama, dance, and

oration contests. Thousands of

people had come to watch.

The festival was the brainchild of

UN Volunteer Yoko Kuroiwa from Japan. Working with UNHCR, Yoko

had been spending the majority of his days among 280,000 Somali

exiles living in camps in Kenya.

Yoko, a UNV Programme Associate with the Hiroshima Peace building

Centre/UNV, promoted volunteerism for peace and development as part

of his assignment. He noticed that there were few opportunities for youth

in the camps and they appeared deeply frustrated.

“The camps are almost 20 years old and many of the young people have

lived here most of their lives, relying on assistance from UN agencies

and NGOs,” noted Yoko.

With limited education and employment options in the settlements,

young people become susceptible to joining militant groups or

succumbing to apathy.


. 5

UN VolunteerYoko KuroiwaaddressesSomalirefugees in acamp ineastern Kenyaduring theyouth festival.(UNV, 2010)


RESETTLEMENT/INTEGRATION OF

DISPLACED PERSONS

Assisting with resettlement in India

Overshadowed by the cooling

towers and chimneys of a newly-

built power plant, life has changed

for indigenous people living in

Jharsuguda, Orissa State, India.

Industrialization has caused the

displacement in Orissa and

neighbouring states of many of

the original inhabitants. Known as

the “Scheduled Tribes” these

people have been pushed off

ancestral lands and away from

their rural lifestyles.

Companies are obliged to compensate people who have been moved

from their ancestral lands when industrial plants are built. One

resettlement colony, Maa Samaleswari Nagar, was constructed with

the assistance of one of the industrial companies. Located in Orissa’s

Jharsuguda District, Maa Samaleswari Nagar is home to about 145

families from the so-called Scheduled Tribes.

Initially, people were apprehensive about moving to the resettlement

colony. UN Volunteer Sibaram Das is himself from Orissa. He not

only speaks the local dialect, but he understands the thorny issues at

play. This gives him a vital insight into the needs and aspirations of

the various stakeholders he works among under the UNDP-supported

Government of Orissa Resettlement and Rehabilitation Project.

KhirabhatiChhachan(right), talkingto SibaramDas, is one ofthe leaders ofthe town's self-help groupsand acts astheir informalspokeswoman.(UNV, 2010)

6 .

GOOD EXAMPLE


Sibaram and other UN Volunteers have helped communities with

the resettlement and reintegration process.

“My role as a UN Volunteer is to facilitate and raise awareness aboutwhat rights they are entitled to," says Sibaram.

The UN Volunteers have encouraged displaced people to form

village level committees that can promote voluntary action,

community empowerment and that can ensure equitable and

gender-sensitive approaches.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Planting trees in Sudan

UN Volunteer Murdakai Titus from Nigeria, working as a UNHCR

Associate Eligibility Officer, was assigned the routine task of

determining refugee status at the Shagarab Refugee Camp outside of

Kassala in eastern Sudan.

During his visit, Murdakai noticed that the area surrounding the 40-

year-old camp was largely devoid of trees. Most had been cut down for

firewood and building materials needed by the (then) 22,000 refugees

from neighbouring countries who now lived there.

Among the few trees to have survived he noticed the terminalia mentalis– a large, tropical tree from the Indian Almond family, also common to

Abuja, Nigeria, his hometown. On Murdakai’s next trip home, he

gathered thousands of terminalia mentalis seeds to carry back to

Sudan. This was not part of his assignment but he wanted to find a way

to help the refugees to easily integrate with the local communities.


. 7


Murdakai found an ally in Wegdan

Abdelrahm Idriss, head of FAO in

Kassala. Wegdan had spoken

stirringly about her work to engage

refugee women in camp activities.

“When I approached her about thetree planting, she embraced theidea,” Murdakai recalled.

Murdakai sought approval to plant

the seeds and coordinated testing of

the seeds for germination and

survival with the Sudan Forestry

National Corporation.

Community elders and camp

residents planted over 600 tree seedlings throughout the camps in late

2010. The activity was carried out jointly between the refugees and UN

staff and camp authorities.

With Murdakai’s seed delivery as a catalyst, the refugees demonstrated to

their host country that camp inhabitants are not only recipients of aid and

Sudan’s hospitality, but can also play a valuable role in the area’s welfare

by helping to improve the environment for all.

Wegdan also set up a tree nursery at the Girba Refugee Camp between

Kassala and Shagarab, There 500 seedlings were planted and tended by

refugee women for eventual use in camps in the region.

A woman fromGirba RefugeeCamp ineastern Sudantends treeseedlings(UNV, 2010)

8 .

GOOD EXAMPLE


UN Volunteers can / do support UN

Agencies, Funds and Programmes as

follows:

Enable disadvantaged groups and communities to gain wider access to

opportunities and services and enhance the delivery of these services;

Include, participate and promote the involvement of all stakeholders,

in particular the disadvantaged, in processes that affect their well-being;

Mobilize communities through voluntary action.

At the policy and capacity development level, UN

Volunteers can:

Advocate for recognition of the role and contribution made by local

communities who are hosting and dealing with large influxes of people

from other areas or neighboring countries or from within their own

country;

Facilitate the development of inclusive ownership and local human and

institutional capacities to strategically plan, constructively negotiate,

coordinate, mobilize, and support participation and voluntary action in

refugee/IDP camps and settlements to assist with national coping

mechanisms;

Provide coordination, training and technical assistance to district

administrations, non-governmental organizations and community-based

organizations, both within and on the periphery of camp/settlement

communities, to undertake livelihood needs assessments, planning and

management (for example, receiving influxes of people, including

registration processes and legal and/or psycho-social counseling);


. 9


10 .

GOOD EXAMPLE

Strengthen local governmental capacity to mobilize communities to

participate in government-sponsored recovery programmes in crisis

affected areas in order to help facilitate greater potential for voluntary

return of displaced persons or refugees;

Engage in public information campaigns, in partnership with

government and other stakeholders, to raise awareness of refugee/IDP

issues, civic rights and duties and potential voluntary actions for a more

inclusive and engaged response.

At the community and camp level, UN Volunteers

can:

Create a space for inclusive dialogue that allows community-based

organizations to increase awareness, volunteer, engage, empower, and

mobilize host, refugee and displaced resettlement communities;

Mobilize communities, community-based and non-governmental

organizations to voluntarily expand their capacity to provide basic social

services in areas such as health, shelter and education to refugee and

displaced populations;

Facilitate the inclusion and participation of affected communities,

including with camps and resettlement areas, and especially targeting

women and youth, in the planning and implementation of assessment

needs and livelihood skills;

Mobilize and support protection awareness, protection measures and

direct line support to victims, especially for women and youth, to prevent

their exposure to camp and resettlement vulnerabilities in the areas of

gender-based violence, HIV&AIDS, and abusive treatment;

Monitor and track camp and resettlement community actions that help

achieve durable solutions for refugee, displaced, and host communities

in order to institute good practices in crisis management.



. 11

NOTES


12 .

GOOD EXAMPLE

NOTES


United Nations Volunteers

Postfach 260 111

D-53153 Bonn, Germany

Tel: +49 228 815 2000

Fax: +49 228 815 2001

[email protected]

www.unvolunteers.org

UNV is administered by the

United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP)


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